AC Milan - Season 1 - #44
SERIE A • 2/20 • 22 11 5 • 82-29 +53 • 77
Our goal for the season where to take the third spot, which means Champions League-qualification. It became apparent at the beginning that we would end up thereabout. And while Juventus flew away in the lead; Inter, Fiorentina and us fought for the two available spots. The fact that we won both matches against Inter and won one and drew one against Fiorentina surely helped us achieve the second place. The 6-1 demolition of Empoli and the confident 4-1 beating of Lazio where highlights of the season while the losses against Capri (1-2) and Bologna (0-1) where the low points.
A more consistent performance will be needed next season if we are going to topple Juventus. The fact that we won one game against them and dominated the other games leaves me optimistic about the future.
SUPERCOPPA TIM • FINAL against Inter • 0-1
We lost the Italian Supercup at overtime against our fiercest rivals Internazionale. They scored the winning goal with just two minutes before the penalty shoot-out would have come into play.
TIM CUP • SEMI FINAL against Juventus • 1-2 aggr
In the TIM Cup we won against Cagliari in the first round, thanks to a late goal by youngster Matteo Gabbia. Vicenza got easily brushed aside with a 2-0 win at home in the next round before Juventus got the upperhand in the semi finals. 0-1 away and only 1-1 at home meant that we were out, despite our domination over the two matches. We had 15 shots on target against their four shots. But Juventus got a taste of their own medicine when they dominated the finale but somehow lost with 3-0 against Sassuolo.
TRANSFERS • 2 IN • 3 OUT
I did some business under january. First I signed the promising centre-back Manilo Di Masi from Chievo. Di Masi had spent the fall on loan at Parma and done a decent job so I signed him for £1,4M. Gianluca Lapadula came to me just before the window was closing and demanded to leave. I put him on the transferlist and Real Betis signed him fast. I used the same amount of money to acquire Mattia Destro from Bologna, because I felt I needed a competent striker if Andrea Belotti would get injured.

In my way of seeing this, a sleeping giant is a club that once had major success in Europe but now are a long way from that. Despite winning it almost ten years ago they haven't been close since and the last season they haven't even been in the CL. And I totally agree with both of you that Milan is one of the least 'sleeping giants' but to get a rolling start with this save and my challenge I choose to have a easier start. I'll mix up the teams I'll choose to manage in this save so that sometimes I'll take a less sleepy team and sometimes a more sleepy team. But I can say that teams like Red Star, Celtic, FCSB, Hamburger SV, Newcastle etc all are on my list of potential teams to manage.

AC MILAN - SEASON 1 - #44
TRANSFERS • 9 IN • 23 OUT
I was a hetic 'mercato' to say the least. 23 players left and only nine came to San Siro under the summer. It was easy getting rid of Suso, Kucka and Bacca as they had good seasons. Other players like Sosa, Ely and Niang I had to loan out, sometimes with a buyout-clause and othertimes without. I wasn't expecting to lose Bonaventura under the summer but when Bayern came with their millions our midfielder couldn't resist, so he went, just like Romagnoli (to PSG) did in january.
I scoured the other clubs for italian players and atleast came away with som quality. I always knew I was going to buy Belotti, Benassi and Bernadeschi, it was just a matter of price. It was harder getting a defender I wanted as no-one of my prefered targets wanted to join us or their clubs were to reluctant at letting them go. I think I, atleast, got a few good players and hopefully I can mould them into great players.
AC MILAN • SEASON 17/18
GK: Gianluigi DONNARUMMA - 18 yrs, ITA, 2/0 (Castellammare di Stabia)
GK: Alessandro PLIZZARI - 17 yrs, ITA, U19 caps (Crema)
GK: Luca GHILARDUCCI - 16 yrs, ITA, 0/0 (Pietrasanta)
I got a very young line-up at the back. Donnarumma is a future world-star and Plizzari held his own the previous season when Donnarumma was sidelined with injury to his ligaments. Ghilarducci is a great prospect and I got the goalkeeping business finished for years to come, unless something dramatic happens.
DR: Ignazio ABATE - 30 yrs, ITA, 22/1 (Sant'Agata de' Goti)
DR: Davide CALABRIA - 20 yrs, ITA, 11/1 U21 (Brescia)
DL: Luca ANTONELLI - 30 yrs, ITA, 16/0 (Monza)
DL: Mattia DE SCIGLIO - 24 yrs, ITA, 31/0 (Milan)
DC: Alex FERRARI - 23 yrs, ITA, 7/0 U21 (Modena)
DC: Michele FORNASIER - 23 yrs, ITA, 0/0 (Vittorio Veneto)
DC: Arturo CALABRESI - 21 yrs, ITA, 12/1 U21 (Rome)
DC: Matteo GABBIA - 17 yrs, ITA, U19 caps (Busto Arsizio) Abate had a strong season on the right but Calabria is closing the distance between them and will surely be my number one choice within two seasons. On the other side Antonelli and De Sciglio will battle it out under the season. The centre of defence has undergone a major overhaul and not a singel one of the starters of previous season is at the club anymore. Fornasier and Ferrari will start the season in front of Donnarumma.
MC: Riccardo MONTOLIVO - 32 yrs, ITA, 64/2 (Milan)
MC: Andrea POLI - 27 yrs, ITA, 5/1 (Vittorio Veneto)
MC: Marco BENASSI - 22 yrs, ITA, 23/6 U21 (Modena)
MC: Manuel LOCATELLI - 19 yrs, ITA, 12/1 U21 (Lecco)
AMC: Federico BERNARDESCHI - 23 yrs, ITA, 13/1 (Carrara)
AMC: Andrea BERTOLACCI - 26 yrs, ITA, 5/0 (Rome)
AMC: Valerio VERRE - 23 yrs, ITA, 7/0 U21 (Rome)
AMC: Damiano SCHIETROMA - 16 yrs, ITA, 0/0 (Montorio Romano)
AMC: Hachim MASTOUR - 19 yrs, MAR, 1/0 (Reggio Emilia)
I felt sorry to lose Bonaventura as Verre or Bertolacci isn't near the player he is. The talanted Bernardeschi, who I beat Juventus to sign, will at least take one spot. Massively talented Schietroma, who I stole from relegated Roma, will get his chances this season and I see a young Roberto Baggio in him. Benassi, Locatelli and captain Montolivo is the prefered trio behind the attacking midfielders.
STC: Gianluca LAPADULA - 27 yrs, ITA, 0/0 (Turin)
STC: Andrea BELOTTI - 23 yrs, ITA, 8/4 (Calcinate)
STC: Federico BONAZZOLI - 20 yrs, ITA, 6/2 U21 (Manerbio)
STC: Patrick CUTRONE - 19 yrs, ITA, U19 caps (Como)
"The Rooster" Belotti is long awaited at San Siro and finally the club has a striker of top class to lead the line. Bonazzoli and Cutrone are two name for the future but I'm not sure neither of them will be able to lead our line in the future. Lapadula will stay at the club as long as he's fine with the bench. Otherwise I'll sell in a heartbeat.
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Footnote: I have already played one season with Milan, but without these rules as I came up with this idea afterwards. I ended up 3rd in Serie A and won both the Supercoppa and the TIM Cup under that season.

Champions League: 7 | Serie A: 18 | TIM Cup: 6 | UEFA Super Cup: 5 | FIFA World Cup: 1
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AC Milan is almost the definition of a ”sleeping giant” in todays football. With the second most Champions League/European Cup titles but with a recent history without significant success. It was the season 2006/2007 that the club lifted the CL-trophy last time and it was the season 2010/2011 that the club lifted Serie A’s counterpart.
The club’s history is packed with outstanding players and many are the legends who have walked in the catacombs of the famous San Siro stadium. Players like Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten and Franco Baresi have all carried the awe-inspiring black and red jersey and now it’s time for new legends to enter the fray.
To make things even more challenging I will follow these simple rules:
CHALLENGE: ALL-ITALIAN
1. Only players born within the italian border is allowed to represent the club’s first team
2. This means that even if a player has a italian nationality although they are not born in Italy, they will not be able to play in the first team
3. Players that doesn’t match these rules will be sold at first best option or will be kept in the reserve- or youth team until their contract expires.
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If we’ll take a look at the ranking it’s a sad reading. Milan sits in 44th place after a few absolutely dismal seasons. And if this continues under my reign, Milan will lose a lot of ground in next years ranking. It seems as though it will be long before the club will fight with teams like Real Madrid and Bayern again.
UEFA COEFFICIENT 17/18
#01 BAYERN MÜNCHEN 164.868
#02 REAL MADRID 163.011
#03 BARCELONA 145.011
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#43 CSKA MOSCOW 48.746
#44 AC MILAN 48.516
#45 SPARTA PRAHA 46.155

REVENGE OF THE MIGHTY FALLEN
In this career update-report I will focus on taking former giants to the top again. Clubs that was once a powerful force in Europe but has now declined and become what many would call ”sleeping giants”.
My primarily goal is to take those sleeping giants from the bottom of the abyss to the pinnacle of Europe-football and to measure that I will use UEFA’s coefficient ranking. The ranking updates yearly and when it does my goal is that the team I’m managing is in the number one spot. Only then can I resign and search for a new team. To make the task even a bit more challenging I’ll have a few specific restrictions with each club. You’ll hopefully understand better when I present the team I’ll start with.
I don’t have a specific rule to single out former big clubs but I think that I have a good knowledge of football history to know which clubs has once ruled Europe. I have one extra rule regarding which team I can manage and the rule is as follows; I can’t take charge over a team who is currently within the top 30 on the UEFA ranking.
I have already played one season before I came up with the idea to do this type of save and therefore I’ll post a quick review of that season in the next update, where I’ll also will be revealing which team I have chosen to start this challenge with. I’ll hope you’ll enjoy this thread and this is the first career update I do in english so any pointers or suggestions to improve will be much appreciated. Enjoy!
GAME INFORMATION
Game: Football Manager 2017
Database: Medium
Countries/Leagues: These (plus I have claassens league pack prepared in the background)
Profile: Vincenzo Monstera (42 years old, italian)